Riddick Lamont Bowe (born August 10, 1967, Brooklyn, New York City) is a retired American boxer. He is a two-time heavyweight champion and a former undisputed heavyweight champion. He is best remembered for his trilogy of fights with Evander Holyfield (2-1) and two brutal bouts with Andrew Golota (2-0).
Early years
Bowe was born on August 10, 1968, the twelfth of his mother Dorothy Bowe's thirteen children. He was born and raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, which at the time was one of New York City's most infamous slums. His brother Henry died of AIDS and in 1988 his sister Brenda was stabbed to death by a drug addict during an attempted robbery.
Amateur boxing career
As an amateur, Bowe won the prestigious New York Golden Gloves championship among other tournaments, (in 1984 at the age of 17 he knocked out opponent James Smith in just 4 seconds) and in the 1985 National Golden Gloves championship he lost to Ft. Worth Lt. Hvy. wt. Donald Stephens, and he also won the silver medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, stopped in 2 rounds byLennox Lewis.
New York Golden Gloves Champion
Riddick Bowe won four New York Golden Gloves Championships. Bowe won the 1985 178 lb Novice Championship, 1986 178 lb Open Championship and the 1987 and 1988 Super Heavyweight Open Championship. Bowe trained at the Bed-Stuy BA.
Professional career
Bowe turned pro after his Olympic loss however, his heart and dedication were brought into question. However, highly regarded trainer Eddie Futch took on the job of developing Bowe as he saw the talent. Eddie would say that Riddick had more potential than any boxer he had ever trained.
Bowe turned pro in March 1989, knocking out novice (but future #1 contender) Lionel Butler. His manager Rock Newman kept Bowe active, fighting 13 times in 1989, beating journeymen, the most notable being Garing Lane, whom he beat twice. In September 1990 he made his first step up in class, fighting faded ex-champ Pinklon Thomas, who he dominated until Thomas was pulled out after 8 rounds. The following month he knocked out the Bert Cooper in two rounds, which added to his reputation and high ranking. By the end of 1990 he had fought 8 times.
In March 1991 he overcame some rocky opening rounds to knock out the 1984 Olympic Super-Heavyweight Gold medallist Tyrell Biggs. However his image suffered when in his next fight, slick boxing ex-champ Tony Tubbs, whose own career had suffered with drugs and weight issues, appeared to outbox and outsmart Bowe, only to have the judges award Bowe with a unanimous decision that was jeered loudly by the crowd. In August 1991 he knocked out future champ Bruce Seldon in one round, and in July 1992 fought Pierre Coetzer in an eliminator, knocking out the durable South African in 7 rounds.
Fights against Elijah Tillery
Bowe fought a duo of interesting bouts against journeyman Elijah Tillery in 1991. Their first fight is known for its bizarre conclusion. Bowe dominated the first round and dropped Tillery. After the round ended, Tillery walked toward Bowe and taunted him, and Bowe responded by punching Tillery. Tillery then threw several low kicks at Bowe, who then unleashed a flurry of punches on Tillery as Tillery lay on the ropes. Bowe's trainer, Rock Newman, then grabbed Tillery and pulled him over the ropes as Bowe continued to throw punches. Tillery somersaulted over the ropes and was quickly detained by security. After order was restored and the fighters returned to the ring, Tillery and Bowe continued a war of words, and there continued to be minor incidents as the ring was cleared. Tillery was controversially disqualified for the fracas with Bowe getting the win, much to the surprise of the television announcers.
The fighters rematched two months later, with Bowe dominating and stopping Tillery - his first TKO loss.
World heavyweight champion
In November 1992 he fought reigning champ Evander Holyfield for the undisputed title. With his heart and dedication still in question, Bowe won a unanimous decision in an entertaining fight, even flooring Holyfield in the 11th. However, it was the 10th round that most boxing fans will remember. The epic and brutal back and forth exchanges helped make it Ring Magazine's "Round of the Year". Commentator Al Bernstein exclaimed, "That was the worst round ever!"
Only a couple of weeks earlier in London, Bowe's old Olympic rival Lennox Lewis knocked out Canadian Donovan "Razor" Ruddock in 2 rounds, establishing himself as the WBC's #1 contender. The Bowe/Holyfield and Lewis/Ruddock fights were part of a mini-tournament where all four fighters agreed that the two winners would meet each other for the championship. Bowe's manager Rock Newman made a proposal that the $32 million purse HBO were offering be split 90-10 in Bowe's favor, an "absurd" offer which Lewis rejected. Lewis's manager Frank Maloney rejected another offer of $2 million for Lewis to fight on a Bowe undercard, citing his distrust of the Bowe camp after the aforementioned negotiations. So in a move that would hurt Bowe's image he held a press conference in which he dumped the WBC belt in a bin rather than fight Lewis.
In February 1993 Bowe defended the title against the 34 year old ex-champ Michael Dokes, whom he knocked out in 1 round. On the undercard Olympic heavyweight gold medallist Ray Mercer blew his proposed world title challenge to Bowe as ex-contender Jesse Ferguson outpointed him. In May 1993 Ferguson was granted Mercer's shot, however was knocked out in 2 rounds.
In the rematch with Holyfield, Bowe looked overweight. He had entered training camp at a 266 lbs, and weighed in at 246 lbs, eleven pounds heavier than in the first fight with Holyfield.
Bowe and Holyfield exchanged hard punches, but Bowe ended up losing the belts to Holyfield by a majority decision. This fight was also known for a bizarre stunt in which parachutist James "Fan Man" Miller dropped into the open air arena, landing in the ropes by Bowe's corner. This surreal scene delayed the fight in the 7th round.
After title loss
In 1994 two comeback fights were not overly impressive, in August he faced the much smaller Buster Mathis Jr, and after struggling to connect with his bobbing and weaving target, hit him illegally while he was down, knocking him out yet escaping with a 'No Contest' verdict thanks to referee Arthur Mercante Sr.
In December 1994 he punched Larry Donald at a press conference, before outpointing the 1992 Olympian, giving the 16-0 Donald his first loss.
WBO title and Holyfield rubbermatch
In March 1995 Bowe picked up the less regarded WBO belt by knocking down England's Herbie Hide some 6 times en route to a 6th round KO.
In June 1995, after a heated build up, he defended the title against his hated arch rival in the amateurs, Jorge Luis Gonzales in Las Vegas. The build-up contained bizarre trash-talk which included Gonzalez declaring a desire to eat Bowe's heart and liking himself to a lion to Bowe's hyena. Bowe won by sixth round knockout. He vacated the WBO championship soon after.
After the Gonzales fight, Bowe had his highly anticipated rubbermatch against Evander Holyfield. Holyfield knocked Bowe down with a single left hook but Bowe prevailed, by a knockout in eight.
Bowe vs. Golota
After his rubbermatch with Holyfield, Bowe was matched up against the undefeated heavyweight contender Andrew Golota at the Madison Square Garden, on an HBO Boxing event. Bowe's weight problem again resurfaced, as the favorite entered the ring at a career high of 252 lbs. Though ahead on points, Golota was disqualified in the seventh round after Bowe went down from being repeatedly punched in the testicles. Seconds after Golota was disqualified, Bowe's entourage rushed the ring, attacked Golota with a 2-way radio (who traded punches with one of them and later required 11 stitches to close the wound caused by the radio) and assaulted Golota's 74-year-old trainer Lou Duva (the latter was taken out on a stretcher). The entourage began rioting, fighting with spectators, staff and policemen alike, resulting in a number of injuries before they were forced out of the arena.
The fight made many sports shows, including SportsCenter, and there was a good amount of public interest in a rematch. The rematch was on Pay Per View and Golota, after dropping Bowe in the second round and being dropped himself later, was leading on the scorecards only to be disqualified in the ninth round, once again for repeatedly punching Bowe in the testicles. Despite not having another riot, this fight also proved to be controversial with a protest filed by Golota's camp to try to overturn the fight's result. The two Bowe fights earned Golota the derisive nickname Foul Pole.
This fight was featured on HBO's documentary Legendary Nights: The Tale of Bowe-Golota.